


Never Insult a Master Hairdresser

by AzTheDragon



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I blame the LU discord for this, Legend insulting Warriors on the wrong thing, actually all of them, and apparently they have accepted said blame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 23:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18486832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzTheDragon/pseuds/AzTheDragon
Summary: “Careful Warriors,” Legend was smiling from the other side of the camp as he watched him work his 'magic'. “If you brush any more, you're going to pull them all out. I'm sure that Time won't appreciate looking like the old man he is.”Warriors looked up from his work and narrowed his eyes at Legend until they were nothing more than tiny slits. He could deal with a lot of things, even the jabs about him being 'narcissistic', but no one should joke about his skills as an hairdresser.No one.





	Never Insult a Master Hairdresser

**Author's Note:**

> Friendly reminder that my works are not beta-read and that English is not my native language. Expect errors, weird phrasing and everything else that comes along with not having English as first language. I try my best, but there's only so much I can do before frustration and anger (and inner perfectionist) settles in.
> 
> If that happens, I'd never be able to post anything...

Warriors was not sure how things had gotten to that point.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they had all be in a horrible spot during an ambush. Or maybe it was because Twilight had been knocked unconscious and half of them had been forced way too close to a cliff facing a very deep canyon. Or, again, maybe it was because Wind had been thrown through the air like a rag doll, landing where he couldn't been seen.

It didn't matter, because the end result was that Time had reached a point in which his patience and composure simply... shattered.

After that, things had become kind of blurry and too fast to follow, but again, _that_ didn't matter.

What really mattered was that now they were all safe. Wind resurfaced from wherever he had been thrown with only a few cuts and muddy clothes. Twilight had finally regained consciousness and was nursing his head with a hand. The rest were either preparing for camp or making sure that no monsters were nearby.

Everyone was doing something.

Except Time.

The old man was standing to the side, looking around in something akin confusion or puzzlement. Warriors couldn't decide whichever fit best, mostly because his eye was empty.

Well, not exactly empty. More like filled with a sort of white luminescence...

But again, those were details Warriors didn't particularly care about. They were all safe, and Time himself sported no injury whatsoever even after fighting most of the monsters on his own.

Warriors couldn't understand why he had looked so torn and pained _and_ scared when it would turn out this way. Not that he could blame the old man for worrying. After all, during the battle, monsters had been effortlessly cut down by that strange double helix sword and the dark energy it emitted. One wrong move and one of their own could have been cut in half...

Their leader would hate himself if that happened.

“Time.” Wild was back from... wherever he went to get them today's dinner. He was the first one to approach the man after he changed. “Is stew alright for you, or do you want something else?”

The question went unanswered, and Wild was starting to worry so Warriors decided it was time to take charge before things snowballed out of control. He usually let Twilight take the lead if Time wasn't around, but right now the wolf boy was too busy with his own headache to do anything useful.

“I think stew will do fine,” he answered, a tiny smile appearing on his lips. Bless whoever had taught Wild to cook. They'd be probably starving by now. Or have minor poisoning all the time.

Wild turned and left, satisfied that at least one of them went along with his idea for dinner. Warriors let him go, then turned to face Time.

“You realize that the battle is over, right?” he asked, arms crossing over his chest. “You can take the mask off, now.”

Silence greeted him, and for a moment Warriors felt like he would get no answer from the silent man. But then Time tilted his head slightly to the side, as if he was trying to see the world from a different angle.

“...mask...?”

Warriors would have cursed out loud if Twilight had been further away. At the moment, there was no need to spread the worry. Things were still manageable without involving the others.

“Yes, yes,” Warriors brought his hands up to the sides of his face and mimicked taking off something. “The mask, Time. You wore it during the battle and turned into... this. Remember?”

“I...” There was so much uncertainty in Time's voice that it made Warriors really worried. A hand went up, past the white hair to touch right behind the ear. “I... do not wear a mask...?”

There was no way the old man was joking. He sounded – and looked – way too lost for something like that. It left Warriors in a situation that he wished would have never happened in the first place, because with Twilight out of commission, he was the one that had to try to solve it.

“You... you know what?” The knight rubbed at his temples as he felt a headache coming on. “Why don't you sit somewhere? We can figure this out after we've eaten something and rested a bit.”

For being a raging warrior on the battlefield, right now Time looked like a lost puppy. He glanced around, gave a small hum, and turned his white eye onto Warriors. “It is not wise,” he murmured. “I will not see the enemy.”

It took a great deal of self restraint for Warriors to not sigh loudly in exasperation. He did, however, grab hold of Time's elbow and pulled him towards the small camp that was forming around Wild's fire and whatever delicious stew he was cooking over it.

“That's why we have lookouts, Time,” he explained, forcing the older man to sit down on a conveniently placed log. “We get turns, so that we can all rest at one point or another of the night.”

Perhaps getting Time to relax was not a bad idea. Perhaps it had been the rush of the battle that had sent the old man into some sort of identity crisis. He _did_ once mention that the masks he owned were more than just tools filled with powers. At the time no one had paid that much attention, believing that even if possessing a life, Time would still be himself.

His thoughts were running away from him again though, because the real question here was how to make a spirit relax when next to nothing was know about their personality. Or what they liked. Or what caused them to be tense.

“Really, there is nothing to worry about,” Warriors tried again, looking down at the currently white head. A huge part of him cringed violently upon noticing how much of a mess that hair was, while a small part was wondering since when it reached his lower back. Probably part of the mask's transformation, he decided.

Again, no answer was given, and this left Warriors at a loss of what to do. He was hoping that talking would bring out some answers, but if this was how every attempt at a discussion would end, it was not worth the effort.

So he was left there, in complete silence save for Wild's humming while he cooked and the quiet chatter coming from the others around the camp. It was enjoyable. It felt safe. But Warriors could still see the tension in the old man's shoulders and back, or the jerky and nervous movements as he tried to get rid his hair of debris and knots.

“Wait,” Warriors muttered with a confidence that he did not feel at the moment. “You're going to make it worse. Let me help you.”

Long years spent doing his sisters' hair had ingrained him with the subconscious necessity of taking care of them. Be it his or someone else's. He remembered he had started by just brushing them and tying them with a simple lace. Then, slowly, came the tresses and the buns, perfecting them day by day, combining them with other elements he saw on other women.

And then, without realizing, he had become a master at the art and his sisters could freely boast to have the best hairdresser of the whole kingdom without fearing of telling a lie.

But again, that was not important right now.

Before Time, or the spirit – or both – could complain, Warriors set to work with a brush in his left hand while the other busied itself into untangling knots and getting rid of the occasional piece of wood.

While he was doing that, he found himself wondering what kind of hairstyle would look good on a spirit-possessed man that had hair that shone like the full moon and felt like the finest silk between his fingers.

It was truly a pleasure to work on it.

Still, despite the smoothness of the hair, it took Warriors quite a while before he had straightened the strands out the way he wanted.

“Careful Warriors,” Legend was smiling from the other side of the camp as he watched him work his 'magic'. “If you brush any more, you're going to pull them all out. I'm sure that Time won't appreciate looking like the old man he is.”

Warriors looked up from his work and narrowed his eyes at Legend until they were nothing more than tiny slits. He could deal with a lot of things, even the jabs about him being 'narcissistic', but no one should joke about his skills as an hairdresser.

_No one._

Squaring his shoulders and standing tall, he sent Legend a glare that he often used when facing people who didn't believe in his skills. “You think I'm bad at this?” he challenged, pointing the brush towards the offender. “Fine! I'll show you what I can do!”

And so he set to work, focusing on nothing more than Time's long -surprisingly beautiful- white hair. He ignored Wild's protests about dinner being ready soon. He ignored Twilight's call of not tormenting his mentor with his inane mania for polished looks. He even ignored Wind's curious stare and Four questioning about if all this was worth missing food.

His fingers deftly parted, curled, and twisted locks. He created small tresses here and there, tied what needed to be tied and just continued to work by following what his heart was telling him was right.

And through all this, the spirit within Time never moved. Or complained.

It was only when Wild declared dinner ready that he stood back, hands on his hips and wide smile on his lips. This was one of the best hairstyle he had ever done, and he bet his whole Rupee pouch that his sisters would be _envious._

Screw that. Every girl in Hyrule would be envious.

Heck, Malon would fall in love with him all over again. Warriors was sure of it, and he was damn proud.

“There! Done!” he declared boldly, getting everyone's attention. “So? What you think? Aren't I good?”

There was a moment where people were scuttling around, forgetting bowls and spoons in favor of observing Warriors' masterpiece. He could see several mouths open in a mixture of disbelief and awe, and even Legend looked stunned.

“That's... wow...” Wind muttered, just a moment after Wild decided this was worth taking a photo of. “He looks so... I dunno?”

“Regal.” Twilight supplied from where he was sitting. “I think regal fits.”

'Regal' must have been the right word, because there was a general agreement expressed by nods and murmured yeahs. It filled Warriors with pride at hearing that every single member of their group had been rendered speechless.

And that was good, because he took advantage of their daze to sneak past their notice and reach Legend's belongings. Getting the Mirror Shield then was as easy as cutting down grass, and not a moment later he was in front of Time, holding the reflective surface towards him so that he could see himself.

The moment the white eye focused on the reflection, the old man reached up to trace a tress near his ear. He looked genuinely surprised, and that filled Warriors with even more pride.

“Thank you.”

It had been nothing more than a whisper. Something that would have gone unnoticed if the camp hadn't been so quiet to begin with.

And then the spirit was gone, back into that mask they had merely glimpsed during the battle and that was now laying at the feet of a very confused Time.

“Something has changed...” the old man whispered after a while, reaching down to collect the fallen mask. He turned it around and stared at the empty eyes in confusion and wonder.

But Warriors ignored that because it wasn't important at the moment. What was important was the fact that their friend and leader was back and things would slowly go back to normal. Or as normal as their lives could get.

It was a pity, however, that his masterpiece had vanished along with the spirit. Still, he couldn't help the smile that graced his lips while he returned the Mirror Shield to its rightful owner.

Wild, after all, had taken a photo of it.


End file.
